Spherical bearings typically include an inner bearing member which may be in the form of a ball, a housing and a bearing liner between the ball and the housing. The housing has a spherical surface to which the bearing liner can be adhered.
One problem with spherical bearings occurs in assembly. Because the diameters of the ball and the spherical surface of the housing are about the same, obviously the ball cannot be inserted into the housing unless some special provision for insertion is provided.
Many different ways of constructing the housing about the ball are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 27,778 issued to Potter et al shows a spherical bearing in which the bore in the housing is enlarged to receive one or two bushings which define all or a portion of the inner spherical surface of the housing. The bushings are attached to the housing with an electron beam weld, and this tends to provide a crack which can create a fatigue strength problem.
Similary, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,050 issued to White, a spherical bearing is shown in which a pair of bushings are threaded into, and form a portion of, the housing with the bushings defining the internal spherical surface of the housing. This requires that both the bushings and the housing be threaded and that care be taken to assure that each of the bushings is threaded into the housing an appropriate amount. In addition, for a housing of a given size, this construction is not as strong as desired in tension and fatique.
It is also known to retain race segments in a housing using a steel wire or similar means. This is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,672 issued to Eklund. This also lacks the desired tensile and fatigue strength.